Report by Mudlark
54th Rotorua Marathon was held in ideal conditions on Saturday and 3500 athletes took part in in this well run event which included 1500 running a lap of the lake and many others in the half marathon quarter marathon and the 5.5 km fun run. Many Hawks members took part but as clubs are not listed in the official results it was a mission to sort out accurate Hawks placings. Kevin Knowles was 57th in 3.11.31 to be 2nd in the M60’s.
In the half marathon over a new course that included some off road running through the Redwoods John Bowe had a good one to finish 7th in 1.22.02 and be 1st in the M45’s. Past member Erin Furness was 36th and 2nd F35 with her 1.38.32. Maureen Leonard was 82nd in 1.47.31. although times were slower in the half it must have been pleasant running on off road trails rather than among the traffic. In the 10.55 quarter marathon Emerson Deverell a late entrant was 2nd woman in a pleasing 42.11 while Helen Hall-King was 5th woman in 50.34. In the 5.5km fun run 2nd woman was Karyn McCready in 26.57.
Report by Sandra Jensen
What way to make yourself feel better about your current crappy running level but to offer to pace at an event? While i admit the free entry part was definitely a draw card i have discovered that i like pace running and it is an important part of a lot of events. The chance to help people is actually very rewarding ( yeah i know) and after recent lackluster running performances i needed that ego boost.
Despite running at many a rotovegas event i had not yet been involved in the Rotorua marathon festivities before. I offered to pace the half at 2:20 which was the same pace id previously done for Auckland half so knew physically how i was going to fare. My co pacer Viviene was great and towards the end we ran together encouraging people in the last 2 km to pass us, not let us beat them.”You can do eet”.
The new half course is great, at a slow easy pace. The hills are pretty darn epic and one in particular almost made you feel like a ladder was needed but at 6 min 38 second KM its was all so easy. We did not walk a single hill and the whole time we were able to chat to people which you normally wouldn’t do during a “race”. I had a blast. And funnily enough it felt like it went very quickly. We had people thanking us along the way and towards the end being announced how well we paced and finishing like all the other runners with a medal felt like we had achieved what we were meant to do. 2 hrs 19 mins and 51 seconds. Not bad really. I gladly signed up again for next year and not just for the free entry but because it was fun and hugely rewarding.
| Marathon |
| Reubin Tomlinson 2.55.34 |
| Martin Ferry 2.56.57 |
| Kevin Knowles 3.11.30 |
| Chris Smith 3.14.27 |
| Dave Gunn 3.30.02 |
| Evan Primmer 4.43.44 |
|
| Half Marathon |
| Vaughan Swale 1.52.29 |
| Talia Horgan 2.12.55 |
| Sandra Jensen 2.19.50 – Pacer |
|
| 10.5k |
| Emerson Deverell 42:11 – 2nd |
| Helen Hall-King 50:33 – 5th |
| Wendy Fox 58.25 |
| Penny Burkhardt 58.44 |
| Wendy Harris 1.00.30 |
| Kim Jameison 1.04.57 |
| Emily Fyfe 1.07.57 |
| Robyn Smith 1.20.09 |
